Pacific Coast Highway
by Greendogg
Summary: What starts out as a pleasant Summer vacation unfolds into one big adventure in the City by the Bay.
1. One Saturday Morning

**Note: All characters in this story are the property of Hasbro Studios. Any other material and references are owned by Disney, Nickelodeon and the like. This is one of the new stories that I'm working on in 2015. Keep in mind this has nothing to do with my Transformers canine series. Thanks to Fourthwallbreaker for beta-reading and editing this chapter. **

**This story is partially based on a real life trip to San Francisco that I took last summer. Anyway… read on!**

_Saturday, April 10th, 10:30 AM, Pacific Time._

The weekends were usually a quiet time…for the most part. The only exceptions were the kids who woke up early to watch cartoons with their friends and siblings. Then, there was three of Jasper's other young residents.

"Bulkhead," Miko whined, "c'mon, we're gonna be late!"

There came a spluttering noise from the olive green SUV. "Wha? Where am I? How'd I get here?"

"You fell asleep at the stop light…again."

"Gimme a break, Miko, I only got in four hours…." Said Bulkhead, noting his lack of sleep.

Miko looked out the window for a moment, eyeing the rather sunny spring day. Apart from a few scattered cumulous clouds, the sky seemed to be clear.

Miko gave a sigh. "All right…But I thought you'd want to hear the news the boys and I got at school yesterday."

"Which is?" Bulkhead had a curious tone to his voice. Had he been in full-blown robot mode, he might have made a face to match it.

"I'll explain when we get there." Miko stuck her tongue out in annoyance. "Jack made me promise not to say anything until we were all together. You know how hard it is for me to keep a secret."

The SUV gave a short bark of laughter. "I could write fifteen pages about that!"

It was at this point that the light turned green, and Bulkhead drove off.

A short time later, he and Miko reached Outpost Omega One. After getting out of the passenger side, the foreign exchange student walked up the stairs and sat down on the couch.

"Yes! First one here." Miko grinned in triumph.

"Not quite," spoke up the familiar voice of a twelve-and-a-quarter-year-old.

Miko looked over, then nearly fell over out of surprise when she saw her two friends sitting on the other end of the couch.

"What took you so long?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Got stuck at a traffic light." Miko shrugged it off, but she still felt a bit annoyed that Bulkhead had fallen asleep. "When did you guys get here?"

"About half an hour ago," Raf responded.

"You didn't tell them about the trip, did you?" Miko eyed the two boys with a cynical look on her face. If those two had so much as breathed about it—

"No way," Jack assured her.

"We were waiting for you," Raf added.

Miko relaxed a bit when she heard that.

"Waiting for what, guys?" Smokescreen, the resident rookie of Team Prime, walked over to the platform and looked at the kids with a curious expression.

"Just some news we got a school yesterday," Miko said before either Jack or Raf could say anything.

Smokescreen frowned a bit. It almost looked like he was a bit anxious about something. "What kind of news? It isn't about the ground squirrels found in Vince's car last Tue—"

Jack coughed loudly, cutting Smokescreen off. "No, not that. I don't even know how you pulled that off without being seen!"

"Ground squirrels?" Miko leaned forward a bit, a curious grin coming over her face. "I haven't heard of this."

"You don't wanna know," Jack replied.

"Oh, I think I do." Miko assisted.

"Where is everybody anyway?" Raf asked, quickly changing the subject.

Miko sagged back on the couch and glared at the resident nerd. She'd been hoping to get the story from the two boys.

"Last I saw, Bumblebee and Wheeljack were reorganizing the storage room. Optimus is supervising." Smokescreen jabbed a thumb in the direction of the storage room.

"How's that going?" Bulkhead asked, coming over to the young bot.

Bulkhead hadn't finished asking his question when the five of them heard a loud crash.

"I'm okay!" Wheeljack yelled.

"Oy…Jackie…." Bulkhead groaned, rolling his eyes. "Not again."

Arcee, who happened to be sitting nearby, looked up from the screen of what looked like the Cybertronian version of an iPad. "I'll get the broom." She put down the tablet, then got up and went down the hallway.

There was a bit of a pause after that. Miko was tempted to let out the laughter that was in her, but something told her that it was going to sound really awkward, so she kept it in.

"So, about that news you got at school…." Smokescreen stated to say.

"Actually, Smokescreen, we wanted to wait until everyone was here before we said anything," Jack piped up.

"No problem, then. I'll just go round of Ratchet and everybody else."

"Uh, Smokey, you don't really have to…." Bulkhead trailed off when he saw that the young bot had already left. "Do that."

Meanwhile, Ratchet was typing on his computer. It had been needing some software updates and he had been putting it off all week because he didn't have the time. Now that he did, he could finally get to work on that.

"For once, a Saturday where it's quiet and nobody dropping in to bother me," the medic muttered.

No sooner did he finish saying this, a voice rang out. "Yo, Ratchet!"

"I spoke too soon," he muttered as he looked away from the computer screen. "What is it now, Smokescreen?"

"The kids are here," the other bot replied.

Ratchet sighed, pinching the space between his eyes. "And what else is new?"

"Funny you should mention that. Apparently, they got some big news at school yesterday."

"Was it about those squirrels you stuffed into a student's car?" Ratchet asked dryly, eyeing Smokescreen suspiciously.

"N-no, not that…." Smokescreen frowned a bit. "Why? Who told you?"

"A little bird," Ratchet replied simply.

It took Smokescreen a moment to think about that, but he soon realized who exactly it was that Ratchet was talking about…Arcee.

"Stool pigeon!" Smokescreen muttered, narrowing his eyes a bit. He started to leave, but then he turned and looked back at Ratchet. "You coming or what?"

"I'll be there in a minute," came the irritated reply.

"All right." Smokescreen quickly retreated before Ratchet could get any madder, then went off to get the others.

Moments later, all the Autobots had gathered into the main room, some of them unsure about why they had been called there in the first place.

"All right, you dragged us here," Ratchet stated, giving Smokescreen an irritated look. "Now what?"

"Relax, Ratch," Bulkhead spoke up. "The kids got something they want to tell us."

Miko half smiled. "Exactly."

Jack sent her a look, then shook his head for a moment before looking up at the Autobots. "Anyway, every year our school takes a trip for two weeks."

"Right." Raf nodded. "Last year we went to Seattle."

"And the year before it was Atlanta, Georgia," Jack continued.

"You won't believe where we're going this year," Miko said, grinning hugely. It was obvious that she was having a hard time containing her excitement.

"Chicago?" Bulkhead guessed.

"San Francisco!" the kids responded all at once.

"Get out of town!" exclaimed the green-armored bot.

"I can arrange that," Ratchet offered, a knowing grin coming over his face.

"Lighten up, Ratchet," Arcee responded, giving the medic a look. She glanced back at the kids. "That's great news."

"I've always wanted to visit one of the major cities here," Smokescreen commented. "Sounds like my kind of trip."

Bumblebee raised an eyebrow at this.

"You?" Arcee looked a bit skeptical, too. "In a big city?"

"Well, sure — why not?"

"I don't even want to think about the kind of trouble that you could get into." Arcee's facial expression became a frown.

"Me? C'mon, with a face like this?" Smokescreen smiled innocently. At least…everyone else guessed that he was trying to look innocent.

Arcee sighed and simply shook her head at Smokescreen's antics.

"So…what exactly does this trip have to do with us?" Wheeljack asked, scratching his head.

"You're welcome to come with, if you want." Miko pointed out.

"Two weeks in a big city by the coast…" Bulkhead considered that for a moment. "I kinda like the sound of that."

"Same here," Arcee spoke up, "Considering that the Cons haven't been doing anything recently."

Bumblebee nodded in agreement.

"Great. Send me a postcard when you get there," Ratchet quipped.

"Aw, come on, Ratchet," Miko insisted. "Getting out isn't that bad."

"Miko is right, old friend," Optimus agreed, speaking for the first time since the start of the meeting. "You do see these same walls more than the rest of us."

Ratchet glanced about at the others. "You're not going to leave me alone about this, are you?"

"Uh…" Arcee mock-considered the question. "No."

Ratchet gave a loud sigh; he knew he couldn't get out of it without everyone hounding him to death about it first.

"All right, fine. I'll go." Ratchet wagged a finger at the kids and the other Autobots. "But only because you insist."

"Great, this is gonna be fun." Smokescreen said, grinned widely.

"That's what you said last winter when we went up to Mt. Charleston, and the next thing I know I'm upside down under a pine tree and covered in snow." Arcee pointed out.

Smokescreen's grin faded a bit. "Oh, yeah…I kinda forgot about that."

"It didn't exactly help that Starscream was probably laughing about it for a week." Arcee said, scowling a bit.

Mt. Charleston was located a few miles away from Las Vegas; the only reason Arcee and Smokescreen had gone there was due to a few Decepticons being spotted near the mountain's ski resort.

"So, when's this trip gonna happen?" Bulkhead asked.

"This summer — probably around mid-August," Jack answered.

"Nice!" Smokescreen nodded in approval.

"It'll be great to get out of this boring old town," Wheeljack commented, smiling a bit.

"That's what I said!" Miko grinned hugely.

"Hey, we live here, you know," Jack pointed out, frowning at the two of them.

"Sorry, kid, but when you've traveled around as much as I have, staying in one place for so long takes some getting used to." Wheeljack apologized.

"So, any idea what you'd want to see while we're in San Francisco?" Raf piped up.

"Well, for starters I was thinking about—"

Miko stopped short when an alarm blared overhead.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Bulkhead turned towards the computer as the kids jumped a bit.

Ratchet went over to the computer, his fingers typing on the keyboard as he entered a password to access one of the surveillance cameras. "Looks like there is some sort of vehicle heading this way."

The bots and humans looked at the screen before exchanging glances that said they were all somewhat confused.

"Can't say that I've seen that color on a car before," Bulkhead admitted. He frowned at the emerald-green C7 Stingray Corvette with black tiger stripes painted on the doors that was on-screen. It looked like the sports car was moving rather fast across the Nevada desert. "We should probably go check it out."

"Right behind you," Arcee spoke up.

It wasn't long after she finished saying this that Jack's cell phone rang. The teenager dug it out of his pocket and answered.

"Hello? Hi, Mom." A frown came over the teen's face. "…wait, I thought the battery had been replaced." A sigh soon followed. "Okay, we'll be right there." Jack hung up and looked over at Arcee. "Mom's car battery is dead, so it won't start, and she needs a ride to work."

Arcee exhaled loudly, sounding like a sigh. "All right." She glanced over at Bulkhead. "Sorry, I'll have to take a rain check."

"Hey, it's no problem — Bee and I got this." Bulkhead assured her.

Arcee nodded before she switched to her vehicle mode. She only waited around long enough for Jack to get on before taking off.

"You two had better get going," Ratchet spoke up warningly. "Whatever this thing is, it's moving fast."

"Right, we're on it." Bulkhead and Bumblebee switched to their alt-modes and drove off.

_A few minutes later…_

The two bots stopped near what looked like a canyon. Apart from some cactus and a few Joshua trees, the landscape was mostly made up of large, red rocks and some sandstone formations.

"That car's gotta be around here somewhere," Bulkhead muttered as they followed the trail of tire tracks.

"You blokes lose somethin'?" a voice suddenly asked.

Both Bulkhead and Bumblebee looked up when they heard the unfamiliar voice.

Standing in front of them was an emerald green-and-silver mech with ice blue eyes. He seemed to be a bit on the tall side and had a slim build, wearing what looked like a trench coat with black tiger stripes on the end. On the mech's forehead was a pair of goggles, with the left lens a turquoise blue, and the right being a cherry red.

"I don't know why a Decepticon would be snooping around here, but you'd better have a good reason." Bulkhead started to approach the other mech, who held both his hands up.

"Whoa! Hold it, pal — I'm one of the good guys!" The mech's accent was thick, and almost sounded like the humans who called themselves Australian.

Bulkhead paused, frowning a bit. "Another Autobot?"

The other mech tilted his head "You two thought I was a 'Con?"

"Sorry, it's just that there really aren't a lot of us around here," Bulkhead explained.

Bumblebee nodded in agreement.

"Noted. The name's Crosshairs; who're you two?" the other bot asked.

"I'm Bulkhead, and this is Bumblebee."

"Bulkhead, eh? Strong name." said Crosshairs .

The new bot's comment surprised Bulkhead a bit. "E-uh, thanks. Nobody's said that about my name before."

"That's probably because you've never met a guy like me before." Crosshairs' smirk turned into more of a grin.

Sometime later, Jack and Arcee were coming back to the outpost. The two of them had been in the middle of a conversation about the trip to San Francisco when they heard their friends talking to someone unfamiliar.

"…And then Grimlock looks at me with his big ol' Dinobot eyes and says, 'That's no snake, that's Grimlock's tail!" Crosshairs finished.

After hearing the end of the story, everyone started laughing, Ratchet included. Optimus simply looked a bit amused — no one had heard him laugh yet, and the Prime wasn't one to show off his emotions like everyone else was.

"Hello?" Arcee called. "Anybody home?"

"Oh, hey, Arcee!" Miko and Bulkhead moved over to Arcee and Jack. "We didn't hear you guys come in."

Arcee waved the girl's statement off. "Don't worry about it. What's going on around here, anyway?"

"Well, it's—"

Bulkhead cut Miko off. "Arcee, you gotta meet this guy. He's the funniest person since…well…Cliffjumper."

Arcee and Jack looked at each other, then back at Miko and Bulkhead. The cobalt blue femme raised an eyebrow, not exactly sure about the whole thing.

"Really?" Arcee sounded skeptical. "Just how can this guy be as funny and smart as….?" Arcee paused when she saw the mech that Bulkhead had been talking about. "Crosshairs?!"

Crosshairs then noticed the femme who said his name. "Arcee?"

The two made eye contact and looked at each other in surprise.

Crosshairs pushed his goggles back up his forehead and smiled. "Long time, no see."

"What are you doing here?" Arcee asked, sounding shocked.

Jack, Miko, and the others stood on the side, watching as Bulkhead walked up to Arcee and Crosshairs.

"You two know each other?" he asked.

"Know each other?" Arcee repeated. She glanced over at Bulkhead before she went over to Crosshairs. "This guys is—"

"An old friend," Crosshairs finished.

A good number of jaws dropped.

"Wow, Arcee…." Smokescreen paused for a moment. "Why didn't you tell us about Crosshairs before?"

"Don't know." Arcee folded her arms in front of her chest. "Must've slipped my mind."

Crosshairs raised an eyebrow at the femme. "How long has it been, anyway? Two years?"

Arcee paused for a brief moment. "Five, Crosshairs …five years, eight months and one…no, two weeks…." She replied. "But who's counting?"

"Is that right?" Crosshairs asked sounded a bit surprised.

"Excuse us, but we're gonna go. Ya look like you've got some issues…" Bulkhead spoke up. He could see that it looked like the two of them had a lot to talk about, and that they were probably not going to have the conversation while everyone else was around. He glanced over at the others, who had either taken the hint from him or saw for themselves, because most of them were leaving…except for one person.

"Miko!" Bulkhead called and started moving, nudging the foreign exchange student with a hand as he went.

"Coming," Miko said. She started jogging a bit in order to keep up with Bulkhead, like everyone else she had several questions.

Whatever it was that was going on, Miko and the others were going to find out about soon enough…

**MORE TO COME…**

**And that's it for chapter one. Part two will probably be up in a week or two**. **Quotes and other materials used in this chapter are from the following: Pound Puppies episode: 'I never barked for my father' Homeward Bound 2: Lost in San Francisco, George Lopez and The Steve Harvey show episode: 'Big Daddy meets the man of Steele'. Never saw the 4****th**** Transformers movie, only know about Crosshairs via clips and previews on YouTube. For those not familiar with Australian or British english, Bloke is a term used for 'man or guy'. The next half of the story will explain a few things not covered in this chapter. Until that's updated, feel free to check out my other Transformers stories, Working Dogs, Remember that Day? Is there a Dog in the House? and Barking up the Wrong Tree.**

**Aside from that stay tuned for the next update.**

**Ciao for now!**


	2. A History Lesson

**Note: And…here's part 2. Took me a while to work out this part of the story, but got ideas based on the Steve Harvey Show episode '**_**Big Daddy meets the Man of Steele' **_**as well as the Pound Puppies episodes**_**: 'Rebel without a collar', 'When Niblet met Giblet'**_** and **_**'I never barked for my Father'.**_** Thought that younger versions of Arcee and Crosshairs would sound like:**

**Young Arcee(Voiced by Brenda Song)**

**Young Crosshairs(Rob Paulsen)**

**Brenda Song is known for her role as London Tipton on Disney's The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Rob Paulsen has done voices for several animated series including Animaniacs (Yakko Warner, Pinky), A Goofy Movie (PJ) and the 2010 remake of Pound Puppies (Suds). There are clips of these series on YouTube, for those that want to get an idea of what I'm talking about. So… moving on.**

"This is crazy, first we find out that our school is going to San Francisco, now this." Said Miko. She and the others were currently in the storage room. It was on the far end of the hallway which prevented anyone from overhearing Crosshairs and Arcee talking.

"I'm just as shocked as you are. Didn't expect another bot to show up here." Jack admitted.

"None of us did, if Crosshairs was able to find this place…" Ratchet stopped short.

"Then there's gotta be more bots out there, some of 'em might be scattered around the state for all we know." Smokescreen concluded.

"Or the continent of North America," Bulkhead added.

"Look, I get that Crosshairs just got here and I hate to pry but don't you think we should ask him how he found us?" Wheeljack asked.

Bumblebee nodded, adding his input.

"You have a valid point Wheeljack, although we have kept the door open for others of our kind to contact us, Crosshairs' arrival does bring up questions." Optimus agreed.

"And I can think of twenty of them." Said Bulkhead.

"Speaking of which, did anyone notice how Arcee reacted?" Raf asked.

"Yeah, she didn't look too happy to see Crosshairs." Jack agreed.

"That is weird, if he's a friend of hers… why would she be mad at him for being here?" Miko wondered.

"Maybe she knows something we don't." Raf suggested.

"Or something she's hasn't told us." Ratchet pointed out.

"Well, whatever it is, I don't we'll have to wait too long to find out." Said Miko.

Meanwhile, things with Arcee and Crosshairs weren't exactly going smoothly.

"Arcee, it's good to see you again." Said Crosshairs and attempted to hug her.

"Wish I could say the same." The cobalt blue femme replied, backing away.

"You still didn't answer my question, what are you doing here?"

"I live here now… well, actually I've been up north for the past few months…" Crosshairs explained.

"O…k, excuse me…" Arcee left the room for a moment.

"You guys can come out now," she called.

Moments later, both the bots and kids gathered into the main room, waiting to hear what Arcee and Crosshairs had to say. Some of them unsure how to react to the current scenario.

"So, what's the deal?" Bulkhead asked.

"Crosshairs has something to say," Arcee answered.

"Arcee wanted to know why I'm here so I'm guessin' you lot want to know too." Crosshairs said.

Ratchet scratched the back of his head.

"The thought did come to mind," he replied.

"All right, I'll tell you… ya see, after Crystal City was evacuated, me and my group had no more reason to stay there…we heard rumors about some other bots relocating elsewhere and found this place. Turned out the rumors were true."

"And the group you were with?" Wheeljack asked.

"We ended up outside Seattle, everything was goin' well for a while…" said Crosshairs.

"A while?" Smokescreen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Some Decepticons found out where we were so…for the time being, we split up." Crosshairs finished.

"Last I heard, Chromia and Ironhide were in California, Jazz took Jetfire and Jetstorm with him to Portland, Oregon, Red Alert, Elita One and Rodimus left for New York. Me and Hotshot left last, he's probably somewhere in Canada by now."

Just then the green and silver mech noticed everyone staring at him.

"Are you daft?"

"Don't you mean deaf?" Jack asked.

Crosshairs shook his head.

"Never mind, let me start over...what's with the staring?"

"The names you mentioned…we know them. Cliffjumper told us and…both our teams met a few times." Bulkhead answered.

"Is that so? Where is the guy, anyway?" Crosshairs asked.

Just then the others got quiet and looked at one another nervously. It didn't take long for Crosshairs to get the hint.

"Oh…I…I had no idea. Ya see, he got separated from the rest of me group and nobody's heard from him since." Crosshairs explained.

"I see…so, you came here on your own?" Optimus asked, like everyone else he had been listening to Crosshairs' story and allowed Bulkhead and the others to ask questions before speaking up.

"That's correct…and if you don't mind, I have a few questions I'd like to ask." Said Crosshairs.

"Go ahead," Optimus replied.

Crosshairs was surprised at first, though he had heard of Optimus Prime, he never met him up until almost two hours ago. He turned his attention to Arcee who still wasn't sure about him being there.

"So…Arcee, what's a Sheila like you, doing in a place like this?"

Arcee blinked twice, looking at Crosshairs in surprise.

"Me? This is my team, I live here." She replied.

"Really?"

"Wow, isn't this a small world and guess what? Crosshairs is gonna spend the night here." Said Smokescreen.

Arcee's jaw dropped.

"What?! Oh, no no…I don't think that'd be a good idea."

"Come'on, Arcee it's just for the time being." Wheeljack insisted

"She's right, you probably don't have the space for the likes of me." Crosshairs agreed.

"We've got plenty of room." Said Smokescreen.

"Well, I don't want to impose." Crosshairs admitted.

"No imposition, in fact, we insist." Said Optimus.

Crosshairs was taken aback by this.

"Insist? Well then, looks like I'm staying."

Both Arcee and Ratchet stood there in shock.

"Staying?!" they said at the same time.

"Excuse me," said Arcee before she left. Ratchet was rather surprised and followed her.

He found her in the storage room sitting on a crate.

"Arcee, I don't get it…don't' you want Crosshairs to stay here?"

The blue femme looked up at hearing her name.

"To be honest, Ratchet…no." she admitted.

"But you two know each other." Ratchet pointed out.

"Yes, though Crosshairs isn't just some guy…I almost married him." Arcee confessed.

Ratchet's jaw dropped.

"You almost married him?! Arcee I can't believe this, how could you not say anything about it?"

"Look, that was years ago…things changed." Said Arcee.

"Did anyone else know about this?" Ratchet asked.

"Yeah, Cliffjumper knew but I asked him not to say anything." Arcee replied.

"Oh," was all Ratchet could say.

"Anyway…it's time everyone else knew." Said Arcee.

"You sure about this?" Ratchet asked.

"I might as well get it over with…" Arcee answered.

Before walking out of the storage room. Ratchet trailed behind, still in shock about what Arcee had told him. The female autobot entered the room where everyone else had gathered.

"Where'd you run off to?" Bulkhead asked.

"Yeah, ya kinda left in a hurry, Arcee." Jack agreed.

It was obvious they had seen her bolt from the room but didn't follow.

"Sorry guys, I needed a moment." Arcee replied.

"We understand," Jack assured her with a smile.

"Thanks… since we're here, did Crosshairs tell you the rest of the story?" Arcee asked as she stepped forward.

"The rest of the story? What else is there?" Miko said, frowning at Arcee.

"The part where we almost got married." Arcee confessed.

Jack spit out the water he had been drinking and started coughing. Bulkhead, Smokescreen and Wheeljack's eyes widened. Optimus raised an eyebrow at hearing this. Raf and Miko were just as shocked. Ratchet flinched at hearing it a second time. Crosshairs stood with his mouth hanging wide open.

"Say what?" Bulkhead sputtered, after a brief moment of silence.

"Crosshairs, is this true?" Optimus asked, looking at him with a mix of confusion and seriousness.

"Ye-yes..." the other mech stuttered.

"I still don't understand why you seem to have a beef about me being here." He said to Arcee.

"Maybe because I haven't heard from you in five years." The blue femme replied.

"Oh… truth is, I…thought something happened to you but the last time I spoke to Cliff he told me your rescue team had left for the south side of Crystal City." Crosshairs explained.

"Well, if that's the case…why didn't you call me?" Arcee asked.

Crosshairs' ice blue eyes turned to the floor.

"Cause I missed you too much…" he admitted.

He turned towards the others.

"You here that, people? I missed the heck out of her!" Crosshairs exclaimed.

"So, what do you mean by you almost got married?" Smokescreen asked, scratching head.

"It's…a long story…I had wanted Arcee to be my mate for a while but…things changed." Crosshairs answered.

"For one, my rescue team was working within the city limits, Crosshairs was part of the group that went further out, sometimes they'd come back and stay a few days sometimes they'd be gone longer… then a month later, they stopped altogether… Cliffjumper was the only one who returned, he got separated and it took him almost a week to get back into the city. We never heard from the others again." Arcee explained.

"You guys were more than just friends? I knew it!" said Miko.

"Well, it wasn't always like that." Crosshairs answered.

"That's a story, you can tell them…" said Arcee.

"Fine," Crosshairs sighed.

He noticed Arcee making her exit and heading towards her dorm room.

"Wait, aren't you gonna stick around?" Wheeljack asked.

"Yeah, c'mon." Miko insisted.

"Leave her alone, I think she wants to be by herself for a while." Said Bulkhead.

Ratchet was about to follow her but decided not to. He could see that Arcee needed some space and didn't feel up to answering a lot of questions at the moment.

"So Crosshairs…how is it you know Arcee?" Bulkhead asked.

"That Sheila is from the old neighborhood, we grew up together." Crosshairs answered.

"You did?" Raf asked.

Crosshairs nodded.

"Anyway…"

"This is gonna be a long story." Said Jack. 

"Sounds like it." Miko agreed.

_Flashback begins…_

"_I was probably just a bit younger than Raf, when me family moved to Crystal City… I was the new kid on the block but…"_

"Nice catch," said a young dark red and silver mech before he ran off laughing.

"_I didn't exactly fit in."_

The emerald green mech climbed up a nearby tree to retrieve the dark blue frisbee the other bot had thrown.

"Sure… Crosshairs, you'll love living in Crystal City, think of the new house we got, the new friends you'll make…" he muttered.

"Thanks, Mum, thanks Dad."

As soon he grabbed the frisbee, Crosshairs lost his grip and fell, landing in a pile of leaves below. It was easy to see the young mech wasn't exactly happy with his new address. He had tried to make friends with one of the neighborhood kids but apparently no one seemed interested in talking to him. Or so he thought.

Not far away, some other young bots were playing in the front yard of what looked like a two story house. One of them was a light blue and white and seemed to be around eight years old(in human years) the second one was a darker shade, more like Cobalt blue and was a year older than the other. It was a rather pleasant summer day, great for being outside.

"All right, Chromia I give up looks like you win this ti…" the cobalt colored femme stopped short when she saw her sister standing on the front lawn, trying to see over the hedge bush that divided the houses.

"Ya know, the point of hide and seek is to stay hidden until the other person finds you." She said but noticed her sister not saying anything.

"What are you looking at? The neighbor's dog, Sparkplug got out again?" she asked.

"No, somebody's moving into the Ford's place." Chromia replied.

"That old place? It's been empty for a year, who'd want to live there, anyway?" the other femme, Arcee wondered.

The front door to the house was open, several boxes were stacked near the entrance and the 'For Sale' sign was now marked as 'Sold'… an indication that somebody was moving in.

Chromia shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't know,"

Just then another female bot, stepped out of the house, she was around twelve years old, unlike her sisters she was mostly pink and white.

"You two have been out here for a while, what gives?" she asked.

"Oh! Sorry Elita, the Ford's house got sold," said Chromia.

"Yeah, and the new people look like they're moving in." Arcee added.

"About time, that place got sold," said Elita.

"Hey look!" Chromia exclaimed and pointed towards the rectangular house not too far away.

Arcee and Elita looked in the same direction and saw an emerald green mech brushing leaves off himself.

"Who's that kid? I've never seen him before." Said Chromia.

"Me either," Arcee confessed.

"Ya know 'Cee he kinda looks like he's about your age. Maybe you'll make a new friend." Elita suggested.

"Eh, I don't know." Arcee said shrugging her shoulders.

Elita gave her sibling a rather firm look.

"Arcee, come 'on…Mom and Dad expect us to be nice when we meet someone new."

"But sister…" Arcee was cut off.

"Arcee,"

"Ok, ok…" she sighed and gave her older sibling a 'I'll do it but I don't think I'm gonna like it' face.

"Well, you wanna go say hello?" Chromia asked.

"I don't know, maybe I'll wait until they get their stuff unpacked and…" Arcee stopped short when a plastic disc hit the back of her head.

She fell forward with a yelp.

"Arcee!" Chromia shouted.

"You ok?" Elita asked.

Arcee slowly stood up, rubbing the back of her head.

"I'm fine, something hit me."

"Blimey! I'm so sorry…" said a voice.

Running towards them was the green mech they had seen earlier.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"Eh, I'm a little sore, otherwise I'm fine." Arcee answered.

"Oh, good…I'll be going then…" said the mech.

"Wait, you just got here." Said Elita.

"It's quite all right, I understand…it's my voice isn't it? Nobody talks to me anyway." He said.

"I don't think it's weird." Elita confessed.

"You don't?" the other bot replied.

"Nope, right girls?" Elita answered.

"Girls!" she exclaimed.

"Oh no," said Arcee.

"Not at all," Chromia replied.

"Uh, thanks I guess." The other bot

"I'm not from around here."

"Yeah, we noticed." Chromia said in a rather frank tone.

"Excuse my sister, Chromia." Arcee apologized.

"Quite all right, I'm used to it…me name is Crosshairs." The mech replied.

"I'm Arcee and these are my sisters, Elita and Chromia." The blue femme answered.

"Nice to meet 'cha, I guess me moving here makes us neighbors." Crosshairs concluded.

"I suppose." Said Elita.

"So… what do we do now?" Chromia asked.

Crosshairs didn't say anything and smiled playfully, before shoving Arcee.

"You're it!" he said.

"Oh, you are so busted." Said Chromia.

"Can't catch me." Crosshairs shouted before running off down the block.

"Oh, we'll see about that," said Arcee, who quickly bolted.

_Flashback ends…_

"Those were the good old days.." Crosshairs finished.

"So, what happened next?" Miko asked.

"_Well…after that, we got along great then…I got the news from me folks…"_

_Flashback…_

Arcee and Crosshairs were currently walking home from school, both of them talking and laughing like always. It had been seven years since the two met, both were now in the partly grown stage of their lives and the equivalent of sixteen year old high school students.

"Did you see the look on Heatwave's face when I passed him on the track during gym class?" Arcee asked.

"I sure did, they'll be talkin' about that until next senior year for sure." Said Crosshairs.

The two of them started laughing again but Crosshairs stopped and lowered his head.

"Arcee, there's something I gotta tell you…my family they…we're moving again at the end of the month." Crosshairs announced.

Arcee nearly dropped her books and tablet when she heard this.

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"But…you've been here for seven years."

"I know, ya see my family's moved around me whole life, my Dad's a construction worker…we go wherever the job is." Crosshairs explained.

"I see," was Arcee's reply.

"But cheer up, me Mum promised we'll be back in the summer for a visit." Crosshairs added.

He reached into his trench coat pocket and pulled out a small sterling silver bracelet. Engraved on the side was 'Best friend'

"I got this for you… it's…no big deal, really."

Arcee was taken aback by it and gasped.

"Thank you!"

Crosshairs grinned for a moment before he and Arcee continued on with their conversation while heading home.

"_When me family moved away, it was the worst day of my life…I did visit in the summer but after that, Arcee and I just kept in touch by writing letters. I found out all our friends moved out of the neighborhood over the years…she and her sisters were the last ones to leave. Then the letters stopped coming…but it didn't matter cause that all changed a few months later…"_

Crosshairs was walking along a dirt path in the woods, occasionally checking his surroundings. It was rather quiet, aside from the local wildlife, moments later he heard the sound of running footsteps. Crosshairs quickly turned around, not sure whether to stand there or run.

"What in the world…?"

Next thing he knew he was on the ground after having a head on collision with a sky blue mech.

"She's after me!" he yelled.

Crosshairs stood up and brushed the dirt off his trench coat.

"Who's after you, Blurr?" he asked.

"Wait till I get my hands on you!" a female voice shouted.

"Her!" Blurr sputtered, pointing behind some trees.

"Blurr, you're the fastest bot I know…there's no way some female can out run y…" Crosshairs trailed off when he was pushed to the ground once more.

For safety, Blurr bolted and decided hiding up in a tree wouldn't be a bad idea.

Crosshairs managed to push the femme off him.

"Ok, now you've gone and done it!"

Before he could do anything he felt her grab him from behind.

"Ouch! Cut that out!"

Once again he was on the ground, Crosshairs looked up and saw the femme panting heavily. He managed to get a good look and quickly recognized her face and sky blue eyes.

"Arcee?" he asked.

She froze and backed up allowing both of them to stand.

"How do you know my name?" she asked.

"Ya don't recognize a friend from the neighborhood." He replied.

Arcee raised an eyebrow.

"Crosshairs?"

"Yep, it's me." he said with a smile.

"I can't believe it's you!" she said.

Blurr watched from his hiding place, first this femme was chasing him now she seemed to be a friend of Crosshairs, what was that about?

"Neither can I…you've…grown." Said Crosshairs, noticing just how much Arcee had changed.

"I could say the same about you." She replied.

The two were no longer playful young Cybertronians but were now full grown adults.

"Wh-what's going on here?" Blurr sputtered as he climbed down from the tree, seeing that it was safe.

"Nothing, Blurr." Said Arcee.

"You know my name?!" he said in shock.

"I sure do, you were one of my students." Arcee answered.

"Wait, you did mention that in one of the letters you wrote…forgot that you were a school teacher." Crosshairs pointed out.

"That's right and you are looking at the kid that won the finales in the racing circuit." Arcee added, regarding Blurr.

"That's fascinating…really." He said in a somewhat dull tone.

"From the way you were chasing me I thought you were a D-Decepticon." Blurr stuttered.

"Oh, sorry about that." Arcee apologized.

"Can we go, now being here in these woods is starting to get to me." Said Blurr.

Crosshairs and Arcee looked at each other then back at Blurr.

"Uh, sure thing, it's gonna be gettin' dark soon." He said.

"All the more reason to start walking." Arcee added and started going ahead of the two mechs.

_Half an hour later…_

"Blurr, how's about you check in with Perceptor, let 'em know where we are." Crosshairs suggested.

"Uh…sure thing." The young mech replied and walked off, leaving Crosshairs and Arcee alone.

"So, what are you doing back in the city?" Arcee asked.

"Just takin' a break and you?" Crosshairs asked.

"I'm on a rescue team now, I had nowhere else to go after the school closed down." Arcee explained.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that fire down at the oil refinery…" said Crosshairs.

He stared at Arcee for a moment, who was looking towards the downtown skyline of Crystal city. Some of the buildings still damaged and vacant after the refinery fire had spread and engulfed several surrounding areas.

"What?" she asked, feeling as if someone was watching her.

"N-nothing," Crosshairs stuttered.

Arcee raised an eyebrow at him.

"O…k. I'm going to file a report with Tailgate," she said and walked ahead of him.

"_Anyway… me and Blurr stayed in Crystal City for a few days…worked out great, Arcee and I got a chance to really catch up…about a week later, I decided to tell her what was on my mind."_

The two autobots were currently sitting outside, looking up at the stars. Neither of them saying a word, until now.

"You've been awfully quiet today…something wrong?" Arcee asked.

"No, no nothing's wrong...it's just that, we've been friends for a long time. I really did miss you all that time I was away." Crosshairs confessed.

"And…there's something I wanted to ask you."

"What's that?" Arcee asked.

"Well…" Crosshairs started to say…looking nervous.

Ten minutes later…

Arcee's voice rang out, anyone within a five mile radius probably heard her.

"You want me to what?!"

"So?" Crosshairs asked.

"I don't know what to say…" Arcee admitted.

"You really mean that?"

Crosshairs nodded.

"Course I do," he said, throwing in a grin.

"You know this means we'll have to tell our teammates," Arcee pointed out.

"I'm aware of that…but it can wait til tomorrow can't it?" Crosshairs replied.

"I suppose," said Arcee.

"See you,"

She then got up and left.

_Flashback ends…_

"So, how'd it go?" Jack asked.

"Everything was fine but two days before I left, things changed…we never saw each other after that." Crosshairs answered.

"What happened?" Smokescreen asked.

"I'd…rather not say," was the emerald green mech's reply.

"We understand, Crosshairs…now that you have given us an explanation…I see no reason why you cannot stay here." Said Optimus.

Ratchet had remained quiet, listening to Crosshairs' story. Something about the way it ended just didn't add up. While he understood that being on different teams made it near impossible for the two of them to stay together, Ratchet thought that they would've worked something out until they saw each other again. But still, it just didn't seem right…Ratchet knew there was always two sides in a story and made a note to talk with Arcee later on. After a while, Crosshairs left with Smokescreen and Bumblebee to have a look around Jasper. Being a small town they probably wouldn't be gone too long. Though Ratchet had planned to ask Arcee for her side of the story, Miko seemed to have some questions as well. After being in her room for the last two hours, Arcee rejoined the group.

"I still don't get why you're avoiding him." Said Miko.

"I don't want to talk about it." Arcee replied.

"Why not?" Miko asked.

"I just…you kids wouldn't understand." Arcee answered.

She picked up her tablet and tried to find another spot to finish reading. Although they wouldn't be leaving for San Francisco until August, Arcee decided to do some research on the city.

"Arcee?"

The cobalt blue autobot looked up at hearing her name. She spotted June standing on the catwalk not far from the couch and TV. Her shift at the hospital ended early and along the way back to H.Q. she learned about Crosshairs' arrival.

"Oh! Hi…I didn't see you there." Said Arcee.

"It's fine… I normally don't get into other people's business but…something seems to be bothering you. Jack said you weren't exactly happy to see Crosshairs." June replied.

"He's right I wasn't…" Arcee admitted.

"If you want to talk about it….you know, woman-to-woman I'm all ears." June offered.

Arcee sighed, June had a point, maybe she would feel better if she got it off her chest.

"Thanks…it's true I almost did marry Crosshairs but besides not hearing from each other, there was another reason…see he wanted kids and…" Arcee stopped short.

"And you didn't?" June asked.

"Well, I always assumed I'd find a mate and have a family one day but at the time I didn't think I was ready for that kind of responsibility." Arcee answered.

"Oh…I now I get it." Said June.

"But trust me, there's more to it than what he's told everybody." Arcee added.

Flashback begins…

Both Arcee and Crosshairs were once again sitting outside, both of them watching a meteor shower. It had been almost a week since they broke the news to their teammates and everything seemed fine up until now.

"Still can't believe you picked me…" said Arcee.

"Well, besides your sisters…you're the only femme who didn't make fun of my accent." Crosshairs pointed out.

"Guess once the clean up's over we'll find a place in the city and look for jobs." Said Arcee, regarding what to do next.

"No mate of mine should have to work a regular nine to five in some office…she should be at home taking care of the kids." Crosshairs said to her.

Arcee frowned at this.

"Exactly how many kids?" she asked.

"Well, you know what they say…eight is enough." Crosshairs joked.

Arcee laughed nervously.

"About that…if there's a way I can get my old job back when the school reopens, I'm gonna take it."

"But 'Cee…" Crosshairs was cut off.

"Look Crosshairs, I like kids I really do but…I just don't think I can handle that right now." Arcee admitted. Being a school teacher was one thing, motherhood was another.

"I get it…" Crosshairs sighed.

"Thanks for understanding." Said Arcee.

"I got an early start tomorrow so…I better go."

She stood up and was about to leave.

"Just…think about it?" Crosshairs asked.

Arcee turned around and looked at him before she continued on her way. As she headed back to building where the dorms were, she passed by Blurr.

"See you tomorrow," Arcee said to him as she went by.

"Uh…yeah, sure." He sputtered, noticing Arcee didn't seem interested in talking.

He noticed Crosshairs sitting on a rock by himself looking at the sky. Blurr then glanced at the direction Arcee went. He raised an eyebrow and scratched his head.

"Did I miss something?" he wondered.

_Flashback ends…_

"Wow, that explains a lot…" said June after Arcee finished.

"Yeah…he and Blurr left two days later and I never heard from either of them again." Arcee explained.

"I'm just not sure about being here, I never told him what's happened since we last talked."

"Like what?" June asked.

"Four months after he left…I got hurt, Ratchet found me and patched me up…" Arcee explained.

"Does the rest of the team know?" June asked.

"They do, but I guess there's one thing I'll have to do." Arcee answered.

"Make peace with Crosshairs?" June asked.

"Make peace with…? no! haven't you heard a thing I said? I've got to figure out a way to get him to change his mind about staying here!" said Arcee.

Just then, she and June were alerted by the sound of three engines. Both looked up and saw that Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Crosshairs were back.

"Hey guys…how's it going?" Smokescreen greeted the group but only got silence.

"O…k….so….I take it we didn't miss anything."

"Trust me, kid putting together a jigsaw puzzle is more fun than sitting around." Said Wheeljack.

"I'll take your word for it." Smokescreen replied.

Just then the alarm went off over head.

"What now?" Bulkhead wondered.

"Looks like a radio broadcast of some sort." Said Ratchet.

He typed a few keys and waited.

"Hello? Hello? Is thing on?" a voice asked.

"Anybody there?" said another voice.

Both sounded masculine in tone.

"Go ahead," Ratchet replied.

"The name is Blurr, if anyone can here this I can really use some help."

"Yeah…I'm Fix-It, by the way… we're stranded out near some place called Jasper Canyon road…could you come out here and get us?" he asked.

"We'll be right there." Ratchet answered before he hung up.

"Autobots, let's roll out!" said Optimus.

Wheeljack looked at the others for a moment and smiled.

"Last one to Jasper Canyon road ain't driving."

Before anyone could say anything he switched to his alt mode and drove off. It didn't take long for the others to do the same. Ratchet simply shook his head.

"Here we go again."

"This has been quite a Saturday." Said Jack.

"I'll say," Miko agreed.

"Yeah, but I don't think it's over yet." Said Raf.

Yep, it was going to be one of those days…

**MORE TO COME…**

**And that's chapter 2…anyway…quotes and references in the chapter are from the following: Pound Puppies episode: '**_**I never barked for my Father'**_**, Hey Arnold episode: **_**Grandpa's Sister,**_** Lion King, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episodes: **_**'Where there's a Will, there's a way. (Part 2)'**__**'Mama's Baby, Carlton maybe'**_** and the Steve Harvey episode: **_**'Big Daddy meets the man of Steele'. **_**The red and silver bot mentioned was Heatwave, Sparkplug is reference to the firehouse Dalmatian in the Rescue bots books. Blurr and the other characters mentioned are Transformers Animated versions. Arcee's back story about being a school teacher is also from Transformers Animated. Anyway… my next update for this story is up-in-air for now. Plan to post the first chapter for Barking up the Wrong tree, sometime next week , Is there a dog in the House? and Working Dogs won't be too far behind. For those who haven't read it, check out my other story, Remember that Day?**

**So stay tuned!**

**Reviews are appreciated.**


	3. Note

**Hi all, this is just a temporary note that will be removed once the story is updated… As of right now, I'm waiting for the half from the person I'm co-writing this story with, so that's going to take a while. **

**In the meantime… feel free to check out my other Transformers stories, Remember that Day? Barking up the Wrong Tree, Is there a Dog in the house and Working Dogs.**

**Got any questions about Pacific Coast Highway... or suggestions just ask by sending me a message. Aside from that, stay tuned.  
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**Thanks for stopping by.**


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